26 Jun 2024

The electoral cycle is a crucial planning tool for electoral commissions, as it enables them to do long term planning for holding the general elections, says the Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC Countries executive secretary, Ms Hilda Modisane

Giving a keynote address during Botswana Freedom of Expression Pre-Elections Summit in Gaborone Monday, Ms Modisane said it was important for stakeholders to understand electoral cycle in the country’s context.

The electoral cycle, Ms Modisane said was a valuable tool that encouraged electoral commissions to engage stakeholders for them to understand their roles and provided electoral commissions with tools to assess what was going on and to do long term planning for elections.

She also emphasised the need for election management bodies and stakeholders to work together. These stakeholders, she said included the; executive branch of government, legislature, judiciary, media, voters, civil society organisations, political parties and their candidates, as well as courts and other dispute resolution bodies.

Ms Modisane said a free and fair election required a legal framework, constitutional provisions on elections, electoral system and electoral management body to be in place.

“As stakeholders, it is important for you to understand the model of the country’s electoral commission, its mandate as per the electoral legislation and whether the commission is well resourced to be able to run the elections,” she advised.Therefore, Ms Modisane said Botswana was ready to hold elections as all the requirements for running an election were in place, such as the; constitution, legal provisions, electoral system, election management body and conflict.

She said election management bodies, as the legal institutions established by law to conduct elections used an electoral cycle as a planning tool to conduct elections.

Ms Modisane said electoral cycle was established in 2007 to also assist electoral stakeholders and development partners in understanding the elections cycle.

“You will appreciate that the electoral cycle appreciates elections as a continuous process. And if you understand elections as a continuous process you should be able to follow elections from phase one up to the last phase, because the cycle is divided into three phases,” she said.

Ms Modisane said the first phase was the pre-electoral period, which was basically about preparedness and preparations for elections in terms of the legal framework, planning, implementation, training, voter and civic education, voter registration and electoral campaign.

Ms Modisane emphasized that the second phase of the electoral process primarily focused on operational aspects.

This phase, she said centered around election day itself, included crucial activities such as properly labeling and organising polling stations, ensuring their accessibility, and guaranteeing the availability of sufficient election materials.

Additionally, she highlighted that election day operations encompassed tasks like ballot counting, results transmission, result verification, the official announcement of results, handling complaints and objections, and result tabulation as well as presence of election observers on voting day.

The h third phase, she outlined the post-electoral stage, describing it as primarily concerned with how election results are declared, managing post-election reviews and disputes.

Chairperson of the Botswana Editors Forum (BEF), Ms Emang Bokhutlo-Mutapati, said the summit, themed Strengthening Freedom of Expression and Access to Information to Enhance Electoral Integrity, was timely, coinciding with a pivotal period testing the country’s democratic ideals through constitution review.

She encouraged participants to share best practices, and collectively commit to upholding transparency, accountability, and integrity in electoral systems. ENDS